Reel for storage and supply of tape or film



Sept. 10, 1968 J. GUERNET 3,400,897

REL FOR STORAGE AND SUPPLY OF TAPE OR FILM Filed Aug. 30. 1966 2Sheets-Sheet 2 United States Patent O 6 Claims. (cr. 24274 ABSIRACT OFTHE DISCLOSURE A supply reel for strip material such as tape or filmhaving a hub and flanges, the flanges being provided With teeth on theirperipheries which cooperate with mting teeth on a clip resilientlymounted on the flanges, so that the clip thus holds the end of a tapewound on the hub in position on the reel flanges. The fianges areprovided with circumferential ribs to hold the clip, the ribs being atdiflerent radial distances on the flanges, thus assuring properpositioning of the clip and also providing for stacking of reels forstorage. Additionally, the reel is formed With recesses to maltehandling thereof easy and is provided with means to signal when the tapeis unwound to a predetermined degree and with means t detachably holdthe inner tape end in position on the hub.

The present invention rionstitutes an improvemeut upon that disclosed inmy copending applicationS.N. 483,192, filed Aug. 27, 1965, and thisapplication is a continuationin-part of that application.

, In that copending application there is described astrip transportapparatus and in particular a motion picture projector or magneticrecorder in which the strip to.be' transported, namely, the film ormagnetic tape, is wound on a supply reel and during unwinding,projecting or pickup must be wound onto a reel known as the takenp reel,said apparatus having means which assure the transport of the end of thetape from the supply reel to the take-up reel.

The present invention relates to* improvements in the spply reel andparticularly to a braking devise which prevents a clip holding the stripend from sliding along the walls of the reel; a special construction ofthe core et the reel permitting easy graspirig of the said' reel for itspositioning; a modification of the end-of-projection device; a means offastening the end of the strip on the reel which avoids tearing of theend of the strip when the reel is used in an ordinary non-automaticapparatus; and means permitting both proper positioning of the clip onthe reel and stacking of the reels one on top of the other.

By way of example, in order to facilitate an understanding et thepresent invention, reference is had to the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 is a top plan view of one embodiment of the reel;

FIG. 2 is a bottom plan view of the reel of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a cross sectional view of the reel of FIGS. 1 2 taken on theplane of the line 33 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a partial sectional view on a large scale showing the clipmounted on the reel, the view being taken on the plane of the line 44 ofFIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a cross sectional view along the line 55 of FIG. 4, partiallybroken away; and

FIG. 6 is a cross sectional view along the line 66 of FIG. 4.

As has been explained in the copending application 3,400,897 PatentedSept. 10, 1968 above identified, the clip has two side pieces 151 and152 which engage in circular grooves 153 of the reel (FIG. 4).

The end of the strip 154 which is to be unwound from the reel has a fewturns wound (FIGS. 5 and 6) around the substantially circular core 155of the clip 150, said core preferably having a slit 155 into which theend of the strip is first placed.

It has been found in use that it can happen that the clip 150 slidesalong the flanges 156 and 157 of the feed reel which causes theformation of a 100p et the strip 154, which loop in certain cases mayprevent propcr positioning of the reel. As a matter of fact, the lattermust be positioned precisely so that the transfer spindle fits in theorifice 158 provided for this purpose. In order to assure thispositioning, the housing of the feed reel is surrounded with a hood 159,indicated in dotted line in FIG. 6, said hood having a recess 160intended to receive the clip 150. It is obvious that if the clip 150 hasslid in the direction indicated by the arrow f the strip 154 forms a100p which may strike the rim 161 of the hood 159, preventing thepositioning of the reel on its spindle.

In order to overcome this drawback, there have been arranged all aroundthe periphery of the side plates or flanges 156 and 157 of the reel,teeth 162 of double inclination, the edges of which are substantiallyperpendicular to each other, the slope 162a making a slight angle Withthe tangent to the flange at the point in question and the slope 16211making a large angle. The clip 150 is provided, between the core 155 andthe side plates 156 and 157, with projections or teeth 164, one of whichis shown in FIG. 5.

The projections 164 act on the teeth 162 like a ratchet, the movement ofthe clip in the direction of the arrow f (FIG. 6) being prevented andthe movement in opposite direction being possible, until the film hasbeen made tant.

Referring now to FIG. 4, it is seen that the flanges 156 and 157 of thereel each have a circular rib 165 and 166. These ribs are placedasymmetrically, the distance d between the rib 165 and the periphery ofthe reel being greater than the distance d between the rib 166 and theperiphery of the reel. Furthermore, the side plates 151 and 152 of thereel clip 150 are not of the same length. This arrangement has theresult that it is impossible to place the clip in reversed position onthe reel after it has been handled for any reason, since the side plate151 is longer than d.

The ribs 165 and 166 have a height 12 which is sufiiciently large sothat they extend beyond the side plates 153 and 152.

Due to the fact that the ribs 165 and 166 are staggercd, when the reelsare stacked on each other, the rib 165 of one reel fits Within the rib166 of the other, the clip 150 being furthermore protected from anycontact.

This makes it readily possible to stack the reels one on the otherwithout being forced to place them in metal cans, as is generally donc.

Referring to FIGS. 1 t0 3, it is seen that the reel comprises a hub 167provided with a flaredl rim 168. Hub 167 is connected, on one side, tothe fiange 157 by three fingcrs or spokes 169 (FIGS. 1 and .3) and, onthe other side, to the flange 156 by three fingers 170. In the exampleshown, the three fingers 169 consist of three sectors located 120 fromeach other and having an opening of 30; the fingers 170 are alsoarranged 120 from each other and have an opening et 90. The fingers 169and 170 are arranged staggered, so that, in FIG. 1, the fingers 169 areat the level of the side plate 157 and the fingers 170 are sunken, atthe level of the side plate 156; and vice versa in FIG. 2.

This arrangement results in three hollow spaces 171 3 around the flared-collar 168 of the hub 167 when the reel is in the position shown inFIG; 1, which makes it possible to grasp the reel by the said collar 168with three fingers to place it in the hood 159 orienting it properly sothat the clip 150 engages in the recess 160, the spindle of theautomatic transfer rod coming into place in the orifice 158.

The present reel comprises, in addition, an end-ofprojection devicewhich is improved over that described in the above mentioned copendingapplication. The device described in that application consisted of atongue rigidly connected with a lever urged outwardly by a spring, theend of which tongue protruded beyond the periphry of the core of thereel when the said tongue passed into perforations provided in theleader of the strip (tape). When it thus protruded beyond the peripheryof the reel, the end of the lever acted on a microswitch contact.

In accordance With the present invention, the flanges 156 and 157 haveopenings 172 in which a spindle 173 which is arranged at the free end ofa spring blade 174 fastened to the core of the reel can move.

The length of the spindle 17 3 is greater than the distance between thetwo flanges 156 and 157, so that it protrudes on the sides of the reel.

When the strip (tape) is completely unwound, the spring blade 174 misesthe spindle 173 which moves generally radially outwardly until itstrikes the end of opening 172; in this position as the reel rotates thespindle strikes against a contact which stops the projection.

The length by which the spindle 174 protrudes out of the reel is lessthan the height h of the ribs 165 and 166, so that said spindle isprotected when the reels are stacked on each other.

For obvious commercial reasons, it is necessary that the feed reel canbe used on ordinary projectors. Now, these projectors do not have anyend-of-projection stop device and therefore one cannot firmly fasten theend of the strip on the core, since it would be torn off; however, it isnecessary that it be fixed suflciently firmly not to slip.

For this purpose, there is arranged in one of the three hollow spacespresent below the fingers 169 a stud 175 (FIG. 2) on which there fits aloop 165 made from the end of the strip; the two strands of the looppassing through a slit 176 provided in the core.

Thus the strip is fastened sufliciently firmly not to slide perceptiblyduring the repetition of the automatic projecting cycles and When thereel is placed in a conventional non-automatic apparatus, if theapparatus is not stopped in time, the loop unwinds around the stud 175without tearing.

What is claimed is:

1. A strip supply reel for automatic reproducers of sound, pictures, orthe like, comprising, in combination,

a core on which the strip is adapted to be wound, a pair of flangesextending radially outward from eachend of the core, teeth formed on*the outer periphery of said flanges, peripheral grooves in saidflanges, a clip adapted to receive the end of the strip wound on saidcore, said clip comprising side plates having inwardly facingprojections adapted to engage said grooves on said clip and havingteeththereon adapted to engage said teeth of said flanges to therebyprevent loosening of the strip wound on said core and fastened to saidclip.

2. A strip supply reel as claimed in claim 1 wherein each of said-reelflanges has' axially outwardly projecting ribs thereon, said ribs beingspaced radially inwrdly of the fiange peripheries at dilerent distancestherefrorh, and wherein said clip side pieces are of different lengthcorresponding to said diflerent radial distances t0 assure that saidclip be placed on said reel With said clip teeth properly engaging saidreelflar1geteeth.

3. A strip supply reel as claimed in claim. 1 wherein said reel has amounting hub integral therewith, said reel flanges extending radiallyinward of said core, said hub having a rim thereon at one end thereofand the adjacent flange having recesses therein to provide a pluralityof angularly spaced finger holes.

4. A strip supply reel as claimed in claim 1 wherein said reel flangesare provided with oblong openings radially ontward of said core, 3.spindle extends transversely of said reel with its ends projeCting intosaid openings and a resilient member fixe-d to said core and extendingover part of the periphery thereof is fixcd to said spindle and urges itaway from said core, said spindle being normally held against said coreby the strip wound thereon.

5. A strip supply reel as claimed in claim 2 wherein said diflerentradii at which said ribs are placed adapts said reels to be stacked withthe lesser radius rib of one reel fitted into the greater radius rib ofthe next reel in the stack. 1

6. A strip supply reel as claimed in claim 3 wherein an opening isformed in one of said reel flanges adjacent said core, said openingextending radially on either side of said core, a pin mounted on theinner face of the other flange and extending into said opening on theradially inward side of said core and a slot formed in the core joiningsaid openings whereby a strip loop may be placed about said pin With adouble thickness in said slot to hold strip in position on said core.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1965 Bernat 206-53 X 2/1967Vogler et al. 242-55.13

